Jacob’s staff and screw press: what they have in common

1. Step 1. Jacob’s staff — uses — Trigonometry. The altitude of a celestial body is found from an angle.
2. Step 2. Trigonometry — is used in — Sextant. Navigational calculations.
3. Step 3. Sextant — is part of — Sailing ship. The sextant and chronometer were a sailing ship’s navigation kit for finding latitude and longitude.
4. Step 4. Sailing ship — uses — Mercator projection. Navigating along straight rhumb lines.
5. Step 5. Mercator projection — uses — Gutenberg printing press. Maps were printed in large numbers.
6. Step 6. Gutenberg printing press — has part — Screw press. Gutenberg adapted the screw press known from pressing grapes.

Open Evothings